Title

Roi soleil

1956-1957

Artist

Ian Fairweather

Scotland, Australia

29 Sep 1891 – 20 May 1974

Artist profile

Details

Date

1956-1957

Media category

Painting

Materials used

gouache on paperboard on hardboard

Dimensions

99.0 x 72.5 cm board; 101.4 x 85.8 x 7.7 cm frame

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.l. corner, "IF [monogram, grey gouache] 57 [pencil]/ ...".

Credit

Purchased 1957

Location

South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries

Accession number

9315

Copyright

© Art Gallery of New South Wales
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Artist information

Ian Fairweather
Artist profile

Works in the collection

26

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About

Painting to me is something of a tightrope act; it is between representation and the other thing – whatever that is. It is difficult to keep one’s balance.

Ian Fairweather, 1963

The central figure of the boy king in 'Roi soleil' asserts his divine status with the gesture of his hand. His image reappears in successive layers on the board, emphasising his presence and authority. The bottom half of the composition
suggests the subject is seated on a buffalo.

The first of Ian Fairweather’s large paintings, 'Roi soleil' was painted in the summer of 1956 when he had just finished building himself a new hut on Bribie Island which, though primitive, greatly improved his living conditions.
Exhibition history
Shown in 13 exhibitions
- Macquarie Galleries Back Room Show, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 13 Mar 1957–25 Mar 1957
- Purchases and Acquisitions for 1957, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 18 Feb 1958–16 Mar 1958
- Australian Painting: Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary (1962-63), National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 17 Mar 1962–31 Mar 1962
  
  Australian Painting: Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary (1962-63), Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 23 Sep 1962–24 Oct 1962
  
  Australian Painting: Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary (1962-63), Tate Britain, England, 24 Jan 1963–03 Mar 1963
  
  Australian Painting: Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary (1962-63), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa, Apr 1963–May 1963
  
  Australian Painting: Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary (1962-63), Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, 06 Jun 1963–22 Jun 1963
- Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition (1965-1966), Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 03 Jun 1965–04 Jul 1965
  
  Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition (1965-1966), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 Jul 1965–22 Aug 1965
  
  Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition (1965-1966), National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street], Melbourne, 09 Sep 1965–10 Oct 1965
  
  Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition (1965-1966), National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 26 Oct 1965–21 Nov 1965
  
  Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition (1965-1966), Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, 09 Dec 1965–16 Jan 1966
  
  Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition (1965-1966), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 10 Feb 1966–13 Mar 1966
- Project 41: The mosaic -The grid (1983), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Mar 1983–24 Apr 1983
- Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara series from the collection of CRA Limited, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, , 04 Oct 1985–06 Nov 1985
- New Directions 1952-1962, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Emu Plains, 08 Feb 1991–24 Mar 1991
- Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan, 28 Apr 1992–28 Jun 1992
  
  Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto, 14 Jul 1992–06 Sep 1992
- Fairweather (1994), Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 01 Oct 1994–27 Nov 1994
  
  Fairweather (1994), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 17 Dec 1994–19 Feb 1995
  
  Fairweather (1994), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Mar 1995–07 May 1995
- East of the Sun (1997), The Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, 01 Jun 1996–17 Nov 1996
- Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
- Ink: Whiteley and others (2006), The Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills, 29 Apr 2006–20 Aug 2006
- 20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
Bibliography
Referenced in 26 publications
- Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather, Sydney, 1981, 128, 129 (colour illus.). plate no. 61; cat.no. 125
- Murray Bail, Ian Fairweather, 'The necessity of movement', pg. 130-140, Sydney, 2009, 133, 136, 137 (colour illus.), 138, 254. plate no. 118; cat.no. 136
- Murray Bail, Mary Eagle, Drusilla Modjeska, Martin Armiger, Joanna Capon and Pierre Ryckmans, Fairweather, Australia, 1994, 99 (colour illus.), 142. plate no. 27
- Kym Bonython, Ross K Luck, Laurie Thomas and Elwyn Lynn, Modern Australian painting, 1950/1975, Adelaide, 1980, 35 (colour illus.).
- Jean Campbell, Australian watercolour painters: 1780 to the present day, 'The 1950s and 1960s: Sydney and the abstract painters', pg. 198-213, Sydney, 1989, 200 (colour illus.).
- Jonathan Cooper (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales Bulletin, 'Exhibitions', pg. 10-17, Sydney, Apr 1995-May 1995, 12 (colour illus.).
- Sue Cramer, Cubism & Australian art, 'This Spiritual Adventure: Postwar Cubism 1950-1979', pg. 154-197, Melbourne, 2009, 163.
- Paula Dredge, Margaret Sawicki, Steven Miller and Lindsay Parker, S.A. Parker Framing Works, 'Works in the collection with known Parker frames', pg. 27-68, Sydney, 2004, 67 (illus.).
- Christine France, New Directions 1952-1962, 'New directions 1952-1962', pg. 7-19, Sydney, 1991, 42. cat.no. 35
- Tom Heath, Architecture in Australia [vol. 54 no. 4], 'Ian Fairweather retrospective exhibition', pg. 106-107, Sydney, Dec 1965, 107 (illus.).
- Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Sydney, 1999, 161 (colour illus.).
- John McDonald, Australian painters of the twentieth century, 'Ian Fairweather', pg. 28-39, Sydney, 2000, 32, 33 (colour illus.).
- Barry Pearce and Patrick McCaughey, Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara Series, Tokyo, 1985, 19 (colour illus.). cat.no. 4
- Barry Pearce and Haruo Arikawa, Two hundred years of Australian painting: nature, people and art in the southern continent, Tokyo, 1992, 150 (colour illus.). cat.no. 93
- Barry Pearce, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian', pg. 13-35, Sydney, 1988, 32.
- Queensland Art Gallery (Curator), Fairweather: a retrospective exhibition, South Brisbane, Jun 1965. cat.no. 35; not paginated
- William Splatt and Barbara Burton, 100 masterpieces of Australian painting, Adelaide, 1973, 174, 175 (colour illus.). plate no. 84
- Daniel Thomas, Art and Australia, 'Australian collection', pg. 52-62, Sydney, Jul 1972, 57 (illus.).
- Daniel Thomas, Australian painting: colonial, impressionist, contemporary, 'Contemporary', pg.21-27, Adelaide, 1962, 43, 70 (colour illus.). cat.no. 108
- Laurie Thomas, Modern Australian painting and sculpture: a survey of Australian art from 1950-1960, 'Introduction', pg. 1-10, Adelaide, 1960, 48 (colour illus.).
- Donald Williams, In our own image: the story of Australian art, Sydney, 1995, 147 (colour illus.).
- Donald Williams, In our own image: the story of Australian art, Sydney, 2002, 153 (colour illus.).
- Project 41 - the mosaic, the grid, Sydney, 1983, 2, 5 (illus.). cat.no. 7
- The Adelaide Festival of Arts 1962: Special exhibitions at the National Gallery of South Australia, 'Australian Painting: Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary', Adelaide, 1962. not paginated; cat.no. 126
- INK: Whiteley and Others, Sydney, 2006. List of works
- East of the Sun, Sydney, 1997. List of works